Yangsook Choi author page

Yangsook Choi biography

Yangsook Choi is a children’s author and illustrator who grew up in Seoul, Korea. She began drawing at the age of four, later moved to New York to pursue art, and has written and illustrated books for young readers.

Her picture book The Name Jar is about Unhei, a child who has moved from Korea and is deciding whether to choose an American name after classmates struggle to pronounce her Korean name. The hardcover edition was published by Knopf on 10 July 2001, and a Dragonfly Books paperback edition was published on 14 October 2003.

The Name Jar won a place on the 2003 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Master List and was nominated for the 2005 Arizona Young Readers Award. Scholastic has used The Name Jar as realistic fiction for classroom reading, with a learning focus on how Unhei’s feelings about her name change during the story.

Choi also wrote and illustrated Behind the Mask, a picture book in which Kimin connects Halloween with Korean mask dancing and his grandfather’s past. Behind the Mask was a 2007 Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year.

Choi illustrated This Next New Year, written by Janet S. Wong, a picture book about Lunar New Year and a child’s hopes for a fresh start. The Name Jar was also released as an audiobook download on 6 December 2022.